


Quiet Game

by ALittleBitofThis



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civilians causing problems, Missions Gone Wrong, Rescue Missions, Some risks towards the kid so be careful if that bothers you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 05:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19167052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALittleBitofThis/pseuds/ALittleBitofThis
Summary: Based on this prompt "first one to make a noise loses"When Peter spots a young civilian in the middle of a high-stakes (and high danger) Avengers mission, things don't go according to plan. In other words, Spider-Man tries to rescue a kid in the middle of an Avengers battle and firefight.





	Quiet Game

 

“Okay. Alpha team needs to pull out, and then Beta team can get to work,” Captain America radios into Spider-Man’s comm. Spider-Man looks at the device he’s just planted and checks that the timer is active. He can’t really respond since there’s a few armed bad guys below him, but he starts crawling towards the vent he came in through.

Alpha team is the stealthier Avengers. Black Widow, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man were tasked to plant devices that would distract guards, bodyguards, and thugs while the Beta team fought. The Avengers were on a big mission- one that had taken months of reconnaissance. They were trying to bring down Brian Harringford, a New York kingpin. However, his tower was heavily armed with security. They’d been waiting months to get in, and they finally had a chance tonight when Harringford held a gala charity event.

Spider-Man’s just crawling into his exit when he hears a man shout followed by a squeal. “Anyone else hear that?” He whispers.

“Hear what?” Scott responds.

“Hold on,” Peter hushes, moving towards the source of the noise.

“Kid, check it out fast and get out of there because we don’t have a very big window here,” Iron Man warns. Spider-Man crawls along the ceiling, and he carefully rounds a corner. Karen activates his X-ray scanning.

_ Oh no. _ The room ahead is loaded with open boxes containing weapons, and maybe a dozen people. Two of them are near a much smaller thermal figure. It looks like… a kid.

“Uh, we might have a civilian,” Spider-Man warns. “I’m getting closer.”

“Be careful,” Iron Man says, almost automatically. Peter pushes his way up into the ventilation system so that he can get over the room and look down. Yup. That’s a kid.

“Hey kid, whatcha doing here?” A guard asks in a somewhat soft tone.

“Can’t find my mom,” The little boy explains. He’s in a little suit and tie that looks specially fitted for him- he must’ve come from the gala.

“Aw. Well, I’m sure we can help you find her,” The same guard coos, rustling his hair. It doesn’t match the way the kid is roughly being held by one of the bodyguards. The bodyguard of Mr.Harringford himself. The kingpin sighs.

“He’s seen a lot, Brad. Too much..,” Mr.Harringford says quietly. He moves closer to the kid. “I know he’s young, but he’s not old enough to keep his mouth shut.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” The guard says suddenly. “Sir, I have a daughter his age at home.”

“I don’t like it either, but he’s seen too much, Brad. If you don’t want to do it, give me the gun and look away,” Mr.Harringford snarls. The kid whimpers in the bodyguard’s grip, confused and scared by the number of guns around him.  _ Oh god _ .

“Uh, shooting’s gonna have to start soon,” Peter whispers into his comm.

“What?” Cap signals for clarification.

“I have eyes on Harringford. About a dozen men and… uh… a civilian.”

“Do  _ not _ engage,” Iron Man snaps quickly. He doesn’t want the teenager to take on that many guns and the kingpin alone.

“They’re going to shoot him,” Peter says urgently, mind already made up.

“Peter,  _ no _ ,” Iron Man protests again, but Spider-Man is already loosening the vent cover.

“Just cover me. I’ll get the kid out,” Spider-Man promises.

“Parker. This mission took us weeks to plan. Can you stay put?” Captain America asks seriously. Peter glances down at the room. They’re still arguing, but there’s a gun in Harringford’s hand.

“No. They’re about to kill him. I trust you guys,” Spider-Man says.

“Peter, wait!” Black Widow whisper-shouts. “I’m on my way if you’ll just-“

Spider-Man’s already moving. He only has one shot at this. Web grenades pepper the room, and they’re only noticed as they explode. Harringford and the others whirl around, but the bodyguard doesn’t let the kid go. They’re smarter than that, and they know to look up. Peter knows the shot is going to be fired before the gun goes off, and he lets go of the ceiling, falling out of its path. He lands in a crouch on the ground and doesn’t stay still long, immediately springing towards a henchman to grab his face and kick him in the chest.

“Shoot the spider!” Someone yells, and Peter’s dodging so many bullets that it might as well be one of those spy movies with the laser traps. He lands in front of a man and kicks him in the gut before webbing his hands to his crotch when he reaches for it. The time that took allows someone else to aim, but suddenly, they flip through the air and into a table.

“I got you. Get the kid,” Ant-Man orders through the comm, and Peter nods. He charges towards Harringford and his bodyguard, vaulting over a crate with a flip to avoid stray bullets in the process. He gets to Harringford and jumps, aiming a kick for his face.

_ Spider-Man’s _ face hits the ground, and it takes a second to even process what happened. Harringford must’ve caught his foot and slammed him down. The teenager rolls onto his back just in time to see and feel the gun being aimed at him by the man. He rolls to the side as the shot goes off, and he scrambles behind a crate for cover. He can’t face Harringford hand to hand.

“This kingpin is good at martial arts,” Ant-Man reports over the comms.

“We’re on our way. Just distract him so Spider-Man can get the civilian out, and we’ll handle him,” Steve orders. Peter tries to peek around the crate, but he has to dodge back to avoid a bullet that hits near him with an explosion of sawdust and straw.

“I can’t see him,” Peter says, flinching as there’s another explosion of straw.

“I can. There’s a gun to the kids head, and Harrington is coming for you. I’m going to hit the safety on the hostage gun. I’ll tell you when,” Ant-Man reports, trusting Peter to understand. Spider-Man does, and he quickly changes his right hand to a normal web and his left hand to a taser web. He can do this.

Ant-Man runs at near-invisibility size towards the bodyguard, and he runs up the armed man’s limbs. He gets to the gun and shoves the safety on. “Now!”

The bodyguard startles at the foreign voice and pulls the trigger, but no bullet goes off. The only sounds are a hollow click and a yell of surprised frustration from the bodyguard. Harringford looks back at his bodyguard on reflex, and simultaneously, Peter pops up from behind his crate. He hits Harringford with the taser web and grabs the gun with his normal web, yanking it from the bodyguard’s grasp. He charges forward and does a front handspring, kicking the bodyguard in the face. He’s unconscious when he hits the ground.

“Come on,” Spider-Man grabs the shocked kid’s arm, and there are still armed men in the armory, so he yanks the kid into the hallway. There are guards out there too, but Spider-Man can see the timer on his heads-up display. He picks the kid up and dashes down the hallway with guards in pursuit- only for more meet him when he rounds the same corner as earlier. However, he’s been here- meaning a trap has been here. Peter shuts his eyes as the flash grenade goes off along with a sustained, high-pitched whining sound. He shoots a web upwards and pulls both of them to the ceiling and into the vent, closing it behind him. The whining is still going, and the men might not know where he went for now, but it won’t take long for them to figure it out. The kid is crying in fear.

"Hey, hey,” Peter hushes quickly. “Shh. We gotta be quiet. You know who I am?”

“S-spider-Man,” The kid responds, louder than Peter would like.

“Yeah. What’s your name?”

“James.”

“James? Okay, James. We’re gonna play the quiet game. You’re gonna hold onto me, and the first one to make a sound loses,” Spider-Man instructs. James nods as he tries to wipe tears from his eye. Peter looks in the vent. It’s a tight fit, and he’ll have to make sure there’s no noise they’re making. It’s gone silent under them, meaning that the men are listening for the sound of Spider-Man moving around.

“Hold onto me,” Peter whispers, pulling James into a hug. James wraps his arms around Spider-Man’s neck, and without really thinking about the risks, Spider-Man covers James’ mouth and places a web grenade between them. It thoroughly sticks the young boy to his chest. Okay… that worked better than expected. Peter thought it would hurt.

Spider-Man sticks to the ceiling of the vent, feeling the weight of James against his chest, and he starts to crawl along the top. He assumes that staying on top will avoid the sounds of footsteps on metal to a decent extent. Less gravity means less force with means less noise, right?

Peter flinches as a spray of bullets goes where they just were. They know he’s in the vents. They just don’t know where. For now. James whimpers and squeezes Spider-Man tighter. He buries his face into Peter’s neck, and he can feel the wetness of the tears through the suit as the kid trembles.

_ Me too, _ Peter thinks to himself.  _ I’m scared too. _ He continues to crawl along the ceiling, as silent as he dares. He can hear more gunfire now, and he can only assume the Beta team has moved in to distract from the Alpha team’s escape. They’ll handle Harringford.

Peter scurries along the vent, seeing an exit up ahead. Or an end, rather. It just leads into a large, tall room where the fight is going on in full climax fashion.  _ Oh man _ .

“Okay. Remember, James. This might be scary but you gotta stay quiet, okay?” Spider-Man reminds. James nods into his neck. “Close your eyes.”

Spider-Man pushes the vent entrance open, and he can see the fighting going on below. Professor Hulk is knocking down opponents while Captain America takes on several of his own. Peter just prays they’re distracted enough not to look up. He moves as quickly but quietly as he can, but he feels his spider sense tingle.

Captain America’s shield rebounds off of the ground, and it embeds itself into the roof right in front of Peter, causing James to flinch and make a cry of surprise. Steve and a few of the bad guys look up. Uh oh.

“Up there!” One of the men shouts before Steve can shut him up. More eyes round on Peter, and he knows he needs to move fast. He lets go of the ceiling, and after falling a few feet, he shoots a web, swinging through the air as bullets whiz past. Spider-Man heads straight for the window, but when his feet connect with the glass, pain shoots up his legs, and the teenager drops his web with a yelp. His back slams into the ground. Of course it’s bulletproof glass.

Wrapping an arm around James, Spider-Man gets to his feet, sprinting for cover behind a table. He knocks it over and crouches behind it. The sad piece of wood is the only thing between Spider-Man and a couple dozen guns. He sees the Shield bounce off the glass, but it still doesn’t break.

“Hulk, get the window!” Steve orders. Hulk runs with thudding footsteps past Spider-Man, stopping for a brief moment to swing his arm wide and knock down some of the thugs in pursuit. Then, he punches the window hard. Cracks make a web across it, but it takes another punch for it to shatter.

“Thanks, Mr.Banner,” Spider-Man shouts, and he shoots his web out the window, zipping him and James out of the skyscraper. James squeals and grips Peter tightly, but the vigilante doesn’t stop. He swings a few blocks to make sure that they’re safe before setting down on a rooftop.

“James. James, it’s okay. You can open your eyes, bud,” Peter murmurs. James hesitantly opens his eyes to see Spider-Man looking down at him. Peter isn’t exactly sure how to unstick James for right now, but it can wait. He puts his hand to his ear.

“Civilian is safe. We’re a couple blocks away. Need me to do anything?” Spider-Man asks through the comms.

“No. Just stay put,” Captain America answers.

“And safe. Have Karen send the police a picture of the boy as well as any personal info you can get. They’ll start looking for his parents,” Tony instructs.

“Got it,” Peter sighs. He looks at James, who he’s still carrying with one arm. He kneels down so James can stand on his own feet and feels for the switchblade he and Tony made to cut through webbing.

“You okay, James?” Peter asks softly. “Put your arms up for me.” He doesn’t want to cut James by accident.

“M’okay,” James mumbles. Spider-Man carefully cuts through the webbing that connects them until they can separate. There’s still a decent amount of web fluid on the front of either of their outfits, but it’ll dissolve in due time. Spider-Man stands up, looking for anyone who might have followed. He nearly loses his balance when James crashes into his legs, clutching tightly. Spider-Man gives a small smile under the mask and crouches back down.

“It’s okay, James. We’re safe,” Peter assures. James nods, but he’s rubbing tears out of his eyes. Peter lets himself fall back until he’s sitting on the roof. James scrambles to cuddle up to his side, and Spider-Man slings an arm across his shoulders. He needs to kill some time.

“What do you like, James? Favorite tv show? Favorite superhero?” Peter asks. James perks up a little at the safe topic, and he starts rambling on about some kids’ cartoon Peter has never heard of. Five minutes later, he’s still going, and Peter wonders if this is what Tony feels like when Peter goes off on one of his rambles. He doesn’t mind at all though. James is cute.

About 45 minutes of idle chatting later, Karen pings Peter to get his attention. “Peter, the NYPD believes they’ve found James mother at the 12th precinct.”

“Okay. Thanks, Karen. Let’s get you home, James,” Spider-Man offers. James looks up excitedly, and he holds out his arms to be picked up. Peter picks the boy up and does his best to secure him with one arm, but he hasn’t really swung much while carrying someone, this is going to be a new experience.

Spider-Man handles it okay. Not the best, as he has to keep reminding himself to shoot webs to the left so he doesn’t smack into the buildings on his right, but after the hardest few miles he’s ever swung, the pair lands outside the precinct. Peter opens the door and enters the precinct, still carrying James.

“James!” A woman cries, and James immediately perks up.

“Mom!” He reaches his arms out for her, and Spider-Man helps transfer James into her arms. Tears stream out of her eyes in happy relief, and before he knows it, Peter is pulled into a hug as well.

“Thank you! Oh, thank you so much,” She cries into his shoulder. Once Spider-Man gets over the initial surprise, he rubs her back comfortingly and pulls away.

“You’re welcome, ma’am. It’s no problem, really,” Spider-Man says in the adult-voice he tries to use in costume. “He’s a good kid.”

Spider-Man takes a few minutes to help the police fill out an incident report, and he gets some contact information for if the Avengers need to speak to him. He is a witness, after all, and the police promise to send a couple squad cars to watch his house and protect the boy until the trial is over. Sometime later, Spider-Man trots out of the precinct.

“Hey guys, how’s the mission going?” Peter asks.

“We’re all good here,” Captain America responds. “Just about done. Is the civilian safe?”

“Yup. He’s with his mom, and the NYPD is going to keep watch on him,” Spider-Man reports.

“Good job, kid. Meet back at the tower?” Tony offers.

“Sure. But once everyone gets patched up, we’re watching a movie, deal?”

“Deal.”


End file.
